Michigan Basketball: Grading the Wolverines 2018-19 season

Defense: A

For the second straight season, the strength of Michigan basketball was the defense and during the 2018-19 season, maybe only Texas Tech and Michigan State can be considered better defensive teams than the Wolverines.

There are plenty of reasons why Michigan won 30 games. Even though the offense was bad, Brazdeikis was still Big Ten Player of the Year and others like Poole and Matthews still scored over 12 points a game.

However, the biggest reason why Michigan had the success it did this season was the defense. Led by point guard Zavier Simpson and big man Jon Teske, the Wolverines ranked first or second in defensive efficiency for much of the season and finished up allowing just 58.3 PPG (2nd in NCAA).

Michigan also had the second-best field-goal percentage defense in the country and even in the loss to Texas Tech, the Red Raiders only scored 63 points and barely over 20 in the first half.

The sad thing is that if the Wolverines had gotten hot at the right time or were just a little more consistent with their jump shots, this team could have made a run at a national title. After all, Michigan State could win it and UM led the Spartans three times in the second half before dropping all three because the offense went dead cold each time.